Sleepover!

(Or, in Griffin-speak, "seep-OBER!") The kids had a slumber party last night. They watched an episode of Planet Earth (which is their new obsession and totally amazing), played a board game, then settled in Rhys's room in sleeping bags for the night. It's so nice that Griffin is old enough to be included as part of the pack. I know he's thrilled when he gets to do what the big kids do. And now that he sleeps at night and doesn't destroy games, he is welcomed in the group!

Native Days at the Zoo

The Friday before Thanksgiving, the kids and I went to the zoo in Waco for their Native American Day. The kids got to do some Native American crafts, have their faces painted, taste some fry bread, and see all sorts of Native American artifacts. They also got to pet a hedgehog, which was really neat.

The best part, however, was a crazy Gibbon that we saw -- and heard -- when we first entered the zoo. He was hanging from a tree, bellowing to anyone that walked by. I've never heard such a noise, and the kids and I were enthralled. We even called Bill so he could listen via cell phone because it was so incredible. It was hard to tear ourselves away from him. We watched him for a good 20 minutes before we explored any more of the zoo.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Bill had to work in the afternoon, but we managed to have a little holiday gathering in the morning. We had my dad, sister, and grandparents over for a breakfast of pumpkin pancakes and to watch the Macy's parade. In the afternoon, we went to my mom and Doug's house to have a more traditional meal.

Then yesterday, I experienced my first ever Black Friday shopping. I have come to the conclusion that people are crazy. And unfortunately I'm one of them. I found myself lined up at Target with a couple of hundred other people in 40 degree weather at 5:45 in the morning. If that's not insanity, I don't know what is. We have been on a quest for a particular hard to find gift for the kids, and I thought that by going before the crack of dawn, I could secure said item. Apparently, I wasn't the only one with this plan.

Later, after some time decompressing and a good nap, we had a Thanksgiving re-do. I made all of our favorite traditional foods and we managed to have a good meal that included Bill (who was working from home). The highlight of the meal was the pecan pie that Avery made. Mmmmmm!

"What's that mean?"

This is Griffin's favorite question. I think this is the precursor to the "why" stage. He uses "What's that mean?" in lieu of "What's that?" so he asks it about 9 million times a day. He is truly interested, though, so it's quite endearing.

Brotherly love

Today I walked into the living room to discover Rhys holding Griffin in a bear hug on the floor. "Aww, that's nice!" I commented as I passed by. But, being an experienced mom of little boys, it didn't take long for me to consider that maybe the "hug" wasn't as innocent as it appeared. I began to wonder if Griffin could actually breathe. So, I turned around and said, "Wait...it is sweet, right?" Rhys responded with, "Of course, Mama! We're just play fighting. We're not actually trying to kill each other."

Chicago

We just got back from a week in the Windy City. And, yes, it lived up to its name! Actually, the weather was beautiful the first few days, but it got quite cold and windy during the last half of our trip. Despite the cold weather, we had a fabulous time! Bill had to go for work, so the kids and I were left to amuse ourselves. Luckily, there is no shortage of things to do or see! Every morning after breakfast, we'd hop on a different bus and head to new and exciting locations. Here's a little recap:

Thursday 11/1: We left for the airport at 4:30 in the morning. Our flight left at 6:40, which was a little too early the morning after Halloween! But the kids were so excited about our trip that they didn't seem to mind. The flight there was pretty uneventful. Avery read, Rhys listened to a book on CD, and Griffin sat in his carseat some, climbed over me and Bill some, played with Bill's computer, read a bunch of books, played with his cars, snacked, and tried to run up and down the aisles a little. I always forget how interesting it is to fly with toddlers!

Once we got to Chicago, we checked into our hotel, grabbed a quick bite to eat at The Cheesecake Factory, and headed to the Field Museum. Since this was Bill's only day with us, he got to choose the destination, and he was most excited to see the bones of the famous Sue, the world's largest and most complete T-Rex skeleton. Besides the dinosaur, there were exhibits with animals from all over North America, Native American artifacts, an underground exhibit that "shrinks" you down to .5 inch tall and takes you underground to explore the dirt, and a great family play area. Then we grabbed a quick bite to eat, and went back to our hotel to get some much needed sleep. (A quick side note -- our hotel room was full and since Bill had made the reservations when he was planning to go alone, our room had only one king sized bed. How, you ask, did five people fit in one bed? We all slept across the bed, and we all fit! Ingenuity at it's best!)

Friday -- We woke up bright and early -- 5 am to be exact (thanks, Griffin!), so we were all able to shower and dress in order to walk with Bill to get breakfast before his meetings started. After breakfast, we hopped on a bus to the Museum of Science and Industry. This museum was the highlight of our trip. It was amazing! We toured a U-boat from WWII, played with farm equipment, explored the circus exhibits, tried to figure out the riddles in the Eye Spy displays, toured a coal mine, learned about energy, oohed and aahed over Colleen Moore's fairy castle, and spent over an hour experimenting in the Idea Factory play area. After five hours, we were worn out! Despite having only seen about half the museum, we headed back to the bus. Griffin napped a bit while we rode back and waited for Bill to finish for the day. Griffin woke up feeling refreshed, so we went to eat dinner and stopped by the American Girl Store.

Saturday -- After a quick breakfast, we went back to our hotel to rest a bit before we went out for the day. After a quick nap, we took the bus down to Lincoln Park and went to the zoo. The weather was beautiful, and we even ended up shedding our coats as the afternoon wore on. After the zoo, we wandered around the park for a while, then boarded the bus to go meet Bill again for dinner.

Sunday -- After breakfast and quick regrouping at the hotel, we headed out to the Art Institute. This museum was the one I was most excited about, as it houses art by just about every famous artist from every time period. Unfortunately, my sons were less enthralled by the museum. Rhys liked finding pieces that he recognized, but mostly, he liked whining and hanging from my arm. Inexplicably, as we were leaving the museum, Rhys told me that the art museum was his "favorite place and Chicago!" and asked me if we could go back another day!

After the art museum, we went to Millenium Park. Wow, that was one amazing park! The front of the park has several different modern art sculptures, including the famous Bean (actually titled Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor). We all were completely taken with this piece. It's so interactive, and we spent a long time playing with our reflections and photographing from many different angles. Towards the back of the park, there was an outdoor audio installation called Arctic: Soundstage. It was an audio track of sounds you'd hear in the Arctic, like cracking glaciers, bird calls, whale sounds, and more. After listening for a while, we took the footbridge across to a playscape. The kids spent a good hour running and playing with other kids until it started to get dark and we needed to go meet Bill.

Monday -- When we went to breakfast, we realized that the weather had taken a turn. It was cold! We suddenly understood how Chicago got nicknamed "The Windy City". Unfortunately, we had planned this day to go to Navy Pier. We spent some time in the morning at the Children's Museum (actually, a very small part of the morning, as it seemed that every local preschool and kindergarten had dropped off busloads of children there, and it was way too chaotic for us). After a lunch of famous Chicago (veggie) hot dogs, we went out to explore the pier. I attemped to get some pictures of the kids on the pier, but it was much too cold and windy for Griffin, who refused to get out of his stroller. That is, until he saw the ferris wheel! He was definitely game for that. The views from the ferris wheel where spectacular, but a little scary (for me). After Navy Pier, we decided to do a little shopping to thaw out. We went back to the American Girl store (Avery had been mulling for a few days about what she wanted to buy) and we went to the Lego Store, which was a huge hit too. We actually took Bill back there a few days later because the kids said he just HAD to see it.

Tuesday -- We woke up to another cold day, and we chose to spend it at the Shedd Aquarium. The Shedd is positioned right on the shore of Lake Michigan, and the views through the glass walls were spectacular! We saw a dolphin show, lots of fish, and a lizard exhibit. It was a neat aquarium, but as I'm no fan of fish, it wasn't a highlight for me.

Wednesday -- We decided to take a vote on our favorite outing and revisit it during our last day. It was unanimous, everyone wanted to go back to the Museum of Science and Industry. We got to see all the exhibits we'd missed the first time around, like the trains, the human anatomy section, Main Street, etc, as well as spend another hour or so in the museum's play area, and revisit our favorite parts of the museum.

Thursday -- We packed up and headed back home on Thursday morning. We really had a fabulous trip, and the kids had a great time. Griffin was pretty worn out by the last couple of days, and while he was fine in the museums, he got more and more difficult on the bus and in restaurants. Bill nicknamed us the MBCU (Mobile Birth Control Unit) because he claims that anyone that got within a 100 yard radius of us would voluntarily sterilize themselves on the spot. Ha! It really wasn't that bad, except on the plane. The ride home was NOT fun, but we made it!

You can see the whole set of Chicago pictures HERE.

Halloween park day

Originally uploaded by Lexy L.

The Friday before Halloween, our homeschooling group had their annual Halloween party park day. The kids dressed up (except Griffin, who chose not to) and played and snacked for hours. Griffin's favorite activity was the donut game, which entails catching a swinging donut without using hands.

Halloween!

A (reluctant) firefighter, Artemis, and Anakin Skywalker had a great time trick-or-treating. We missed having everyone over for our usual Halloween festivities, but since we left for the airport at 4:30 the morning after Halloween, we knew we couldn't be up partying until the wee hours.

After refusing to wear several different costumes we'd selected for him, Griffin finally agreed to don the firefighter jacket, but of course, wouldn't wear the hat. Besides the costuming, Griffin really enjoyed Halloween. He was thrilled to go from house to house, always saying "Trick-or-treat" and thanking everyone that gave him candy.